Mary Shelly Frankenstein B#5

In modern society we know there is nothing we can do to resurrect the dead.  Back in the eighteen hundreds when this book was written the common beliefs of the time included myths and mysticism to explain the unexplainable phonemes that occurred.  The unanswerable questions of death that plagued scholars and common citizens of the time lead to speculations and stories of resurrections, the mysterious forces of nature and the heavens.

Victor Frankenstein grew up in a family with a firm grasp of reality and a strong belief in education.  His parents, especially father tried to enforce the importance of reality and not the supernatural or mystical belief prevalent of the time.  His parents’ even demonstrated restraint to exposing him to classic horror stories; as a result, “In my education my father had taken the greatest precautions that my mind should be impressed with no supernatural horrors. I do not ever remember to have trembled at a tale of superstition, or to have feared the apparition of a spirit.”  (Shelly P. 30) Creating a creature by the resurrection of an exhumed body stems from his fascination of the superstitious and gothic ideas of the time, and not from his factual upbringing.  The character’s curiosity and obsession with death and dying is apparent in this next passage; “My attention was fixed upon every object the most insupportable to the delicacy of the human feelings. I saw how the fine form of man was degraded and wasted; I beheld the corruption of death succeed to the blooming cheek of life…that I alone should be reserved to discover so astonishing a secret” (Shelly P. 33) The author does not mention how the death of Victor’s mother affected him, or if her death may have triggered his allure towards death; as in the prior passage the author eludes to his urge to be able to control death.  Although the character, Victor, was brought up without belief in the supernatural, he is unable to control his urge to make sense of the unexplained.  The character’s captivation with how the body withers away as it ages and going through the stages of dying, to some readers may be distasteful, but it demonstrates the normal curiosities people have towards explaining the unknown through a scientific, fact based, method.        

Photo from:http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Shelley

Shelley, Mary. Frankesnstein. a norton critical edition. 1. New York: W.W. Norton Company, Inc, 1996. 335. Print.

Poetry of Witness

 I grew up with stories that not necessarily were the classic “story before sleep” in fact my grandmother use to tell me stories that weren’t for kids, but my point is that I’ve always wondered a lot, even when the stories where about horrible creatures and people with mental problems who used to effectuate  terrible crimes. I must say, while I was reading Luis Erdrich Poem called “Windigo” I felt like more questions appeared in my mind with every stanza, because it seems that she is describing how a patient with a mind disorders, schizophrenia or a psychiatric condition are feeling inside. Karen Louise Erdrich is an author of novels, poetry, and children's books featuring Native American heritage, I can really see how evident Native American heritage is reflected in her poetry, describing the “Windigo” who is a demon who eats flesh, It seems that she has been marked in a positive way by native American stories; Erdrich chooses her wording in a very carful manner, transmitting a sense of fear. A lot of her assumptions are reflected in her writings. I like the way she interacts with the reader, I can see the vast experience she has and the amount of talent she reflects.  In the first stanza she starts describing one of the deepest fears of all humans that sometimes is called the “inevitably happening”: “You knew I was coming for you” This stanza can be interpreted in many Ways, but suddenly patients who suffer off schizophrenia have sometimes the same idea of someone inside of them who tells them horrible things, tormenting them, this creates a picture that sometimes becomes a reality in most societies because some societies call this issue “psychiatric condition” but native Americans used to say that they were possessed by demons. 
Erdrich, Louise. "Windigo." Poetry Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Sept 2011.
Photo From:
http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap10/erdrich.html